Henry Siegman reveals that time is not on Israel’s side, despite the outward popularity of the Netanyahu government and the seeming lack of effective pressure by the U.S. His establishment bona fides as former head of the American Jewish Congress gave him access to Israel’s past overconfidence and candor.

“A vivid recollection from the time I headed the American Jewish Congress is a helicopter trip over the West Bank on which I was taken by Ariel Sharon. With large, worn maps in hand, he pointed out to me strategic locations of present and future settlements on east-west and north-south axes that, Sharon assured me, would rule out a future Palestinian state.”

This belief that Israel could unilaterally dictate the terms of a solution in the absence of a two state solution is breaking down. Instead, Siegman says that European diplomats are threatening an internationally imposed settlement.
The EU’s new high representative for foreign affairs and security policy, Baroness Catherine Ashton declared, “We cannot and nor, I doubt, can the region tolerate another round of fruitless negotiations.”

However, the understandable frustration over “fruitless negotations” should not give us too much hope in a solution unilaterally imposed by the United States or the Eureopean Union. We must continue to press for a solution that is both just and is “fully responsive to genuine security needs” of Palestinians, not just Israelis.

JESSE BACON (Philadelphia) is a freelance activist and father. He has a Masters in teaching from Roosevelt University in Chicago. He is an observant progressive Jew, and is trying to be a good ally for Palestinians and all dispossessed peoples, while staying true to the best traditions in Judaism. He visited Israel and Palestine in 1996, 2001, and 2002. He served for three years on the local steering committee of Jewish Voice for Peace-Chicago, and one year on the board of Pursue the Peace in Seattle.
Read his posts here.